Can you hear like a teenager?

Take a listen to this audio clip. Be Careful, the sound (if you can hear like a teenager) is loud and annoying (it’s not called a mosquito ringtone for nothing). You may want to turn down your computer speakers and turn up gradually to test a comfortable sound level.

As we age, the little hairs in our inner ear lose some of their function and we begin to lose our hearing in the very high frequency ranges. Tones like the one above are sometimes used by teens for their cell phone ring tones so their teachers can’t hear their phone ringing in class (where cell phones are usually banned). The teacher, who is likely older than 25, has some degree of hearing loss and is oblivious to the ring.

Another ingenious use of this concept comes in a $1500 package called the “Mosquito”, which is an anti-teen loitering device. The device is placed wherever teen loitering is unwanted, with the idea being that teens will find it so annoying that they’ll go somewhere else. Adults, on the other hand are not bothered by the tone because they can’t hear it.

In any case, if you can’t hear the tone, don’t feel bad – it just means you’re getting wiser.

I’m 15.. i think i can hear it.. though i turned my volume all the way up and am wearing headphones and its not very loud or annoying. Though i do have a problem with volume.. like on my tv i have to have it up past 40 to understand anything that is being said on the screen, and i cant really understand someone on the phone without asking them to repeat themselves like 2-5 times. Same thing when i’m with a group of people talking, or in the car haha… not sure if thats bad or not though lol 🙂